Tuesday 3 May 2011

A short spell away...

down south...

A foraging course near Lewes in Sussex presented by Nick Weston, author of The Tree House Diaries:



I really should have taken more photos - excellent weather and an excellent course.
Base-camp and preparation and cooking facilities were in a fine bluebell wood and after preparing some rabbits for the pot, a meander across fields, hedgerows and along a waterway collecting edible vegetation and some important pointers for poisonous plants to avoid.

Surprising how much vegetation out and about that I'd taken for granted and now pleasantly find edible and with fine flavours.
I hadn't done any preparation and butchery of rabbits etc. for about 20 years - sometimes it's important to get back to the basics and respect how food (particularly that which moves) gets to our position in the food chain...

One of the things that impressed me with this course, was how the food was presented after gathering and how it tasted.
I was put off liver at an early age by it's texture, taste and smell - but devilled rabbit livers with wild herbs and mustard were rather fine.
Nettle pesto with freshly done flat-bread, 'chicken of the woods' fungus omelette, wood pigeon breasts, carp stuffed with wild garlic, jack-by-the-hedge and baked in a burdock leaf in the fire embers, potted rabbit prepared and well received at a later picnic with friends...

No comments:

Post a Comment